In an initiative to get their citizens to vote in the upcoming elections, many primary and secondary schools in Karnataka have announced that they will be awarding additional four marks in the midterm examination results if both father and mother cast their votes. “After casting their votes, parents can visit member schools of our association and confirm that they voted by showing the indelible ink mark. If one parent votes, then the child will get two marks, and if both father and mother cast their votes, four marks will be awarded to the student.,” the association told the to Indian Express.

According to reports, this is not the first time the association has promised marks for voting. The general secretary of the association, D Shashi Kumar told The Hindu that they started this exercise in the 2013 assembly elections where it was restricted to one particular school of the city. This time, they are extending it and requesting all the member schools to adopt the same. According to him, some parents treat the voting day, as an unofficial holiday and go on vacation. “To attract such parents and make them realize how important their vote is, we have started this programme,” he explained.

According to The Hindu, this will be the first time when a large number of schools will participate in the campaign “Marks for Vote”. The ‘”encouraging Marks” will be added in a 2018-19 academic year. In the case of class 10 students, whose exams will be conducted at the state level, schools will announce rewards and select them through a lottery or lucky dip. Also, since they cannot allot marks for pre-primary kids as they have no examination, even they would be presented rewards in the similar.

Primary and secondary schools association believes that the motive behind encouraging the students to ask their parents to vote is to improve the voter turnout percentage in the state elections. In 2013 assembly elections in Karnataka, the voting percentage had crossed 70 percent.